The cute creature

I open my eyes.
I'm lying on the cave ground. Everything hurts.
I really must have fallen asleep.

I'm glad I could even sleep after all this. I really needed some sleep.
I feel like I recovered reasonably well.
The pain has become far less severe.

I remove the fully bled rag of cloth from my back and check the injury.
The bleeding seems to have stopped by now. The scratches gladly only hit the surface of my skin.
Some ports and surface level cables have been damaged, though.

So I don't need to worry about my health too much and just stand up.
It almost doesn't hurt.
The sleep and perhaps the remaining solar energy must have helped heal the injuries.

The fact that I'm naked now after I put the scraps of my clothes on my wounds is pretty uncomfortable.
But since there are no other people around in thi scave, that's okay.

I still have enough energy to use my inbuilt lamp to illuminate the cave.
So I can finally explore the inside of the cave properly.
It should be safer in here than outside.
At least such huge creatures don't fit in here at all.

I really need to find some food soon.
At home we used only our excrements, waste and sunlight to produce food. We put that into machines and food came out.
When thinking about it, it's not that different down here. Except that there are no machines, but plants to do this conversion.

But since there is hardly any light here, which the plants need for the transformation, there will also be no food in the cave.
And leaving the cave again is too dangerous.
Maybe there are other exits which lead to less dangerous areas.

But for now I could try to find smaller animals to eat, maybe in the size of that creature which was eaten by that monster.
They could be hiding here in the cave, too.

As I continue walk through the cave I hear a noise.

Maybe it's an edible animal?
I follow the sound.

There it was again!
I think something small scurried past me.

I walk a little further and hear it again.
I look around carefully, and as a small, round shadow quickly crawls along the ground, I immedately throw myself at it and catch it.

Now I have a small creature in my arms.
The round creature is really handy to carry. Almost like a ball.
It also feels as smooth and bouncy as a typical ball.
No idea what it looks like. Despite my light it's still too dark to properly see it.
But I'm sure I could eat it. I still hope to find something else, though.

So I start looking for another exit.
I go deeper into the cave and enter a narrow passage.
I follow it for a while until I see a light from the other side.
There really must be another exit somewhere.

I go further along that path and soon a huge meadow opens up to me.
Only grass and many white flowers are to be seen there.
A landscape full of hills, no obstacles in the way where big monsters could hide.
And around the meadow there are high cliffs almost everywhere.
It might be difficult for huge creatures to get in.
They wouldn't survive the fall.

I don't think I could have found any better place.
It's definitely worth looking around here.
The risk of being attacked here is more than acceptable.

And in the light I also take a look at my catch for the first time.
It is an almost black ball with two eyes.
In addition, it has a small opening on both sides.
Probably a mouth for eating and another one to get the remainings out again.

I start to walk around on the meadow, and quickly discover berries.

I pick one of the them and taste it.
It really tastes delicious. I decide to let go of the animal. There are enough of these berries.

I put the animal on the ground and continue eating berries.
The animal just stays here. It doesn't seem to be afraid of me.
It doesn't seem to like the berries, but it does eat some specific grass, which looks like it might be poisonous to me.

I continue walking and even then the creature keeps following me.
Maybe it can be considered my pet now? The ancestors liked to have pets.
Yes, I guess this is my pet now.
And since it's round like a ball, I call it Balli.

I also notice that it has little stumps. Or actually just bumps that move.
Balli probably uses these to move around.

I walk a little further and find more tasty plants, mainly berries.
I've already learned about many of them in my training.
But to be safe, I often try just a small piece.
If it tastes good, I eat more.
If it's bitter, I rather don't.

Balli follows me everywhere.
And I start to play with it.
I speed up and slow down, I stroke it, I push it gently.

Nothing I do seems to bother Balli, so I quickly become careless.
I roll it around, even throw it, but it always comes back to me and continues to seem very happy around me.

I really enjoy interacting with Balli.
In between it eats something, and it also seems to get fatter quickly.

Soon it gets dark and the stars become visible again.
It must be nighttime. I knew the atmosphere was less visible at night, but I didn't expect to see the stars so well again.
Probably the toxic fog in the atmosphere has decomposed by now.

Since I can see less and less as it's getting dark, and am already getting tired again, I decide to rest and sleep.
I have not yet recovered properly from the hard landing and the injuries.

Since it is only a big plain with small hills, there is no shelter nearby.
And I don't want to go back to the cave anymore.
It was quite cold and wet.

So I lie down right here.
The grass is comfortable and it is also warmer out here.

I wave Balli towards me and it comes closer.
Then I hug Balli and close my eyes.

Even if I don't survive this, I don't regret anything.
Even if another monster comes to eat me tonight, at least I could get to know life on earth and had a few fun hours with Balli.